Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

Thanks, Jeff. I will check to see if they still carry it at Alabama ABC. I'm pretty sure they do, but nothing surprises me there, anymore (in the sense of, "Oh, hell, they have stopped carrying something else!")

Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

I really like the EC 12. I've had several bottles and each one was good. For the price, it's great. The 1.75 liter bottles are on sale in PA. for $29.99! $2 off.
PA is like Alabama, Tim. PA just closed out the 750 ml bottles. They are closing out bottles with low profit margins. There are still some around for $10.99! Before it was closed out, it was $16.99.
Anyway, when I go to work tomorrow, I'll pick up a .75 liter bottle. We have 5 in out store.
Bottom line, good bourbon for a good price. Thanks for choosing it, Jeff.

Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

I've probably had about 5-6 bottles of EC12 over the last 5-6 years. It's one of the cheaper "premium" bourbons here in Kentucky, and I tend to alternate between it and Buffalo Trace as my standard around the house bourbon. You just can't beat the quality at that price -- great value.

As for the hit-or-miss bottle (I haven't had one myself), but could it be a product of the rather large cork they use in the bottle? It has more surface area than just about any other bourbon cork I think I've seen -- could it be bad cork? From what I understand, wine with natural corks has a "going bad" rate of about 5-10% due to issues with the cork; maybe the same goes for bourbon. With the larger cork, this could possible mean EC has an increased chance of cork pollution.

Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

I too have yet to find a "bad" bottle of EC 12yo, lately it has been on of my favorites, not the best but great for the price. Here in the great white north its really the only good bottle under $20, even Beam Black is at $23 and in my opinion thst is nowhere near the bourbon that EC is.

Tim

"I'm an optimist, even if the glass is half empty, there is more in the bottle!!!"

Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

The quality / consistentcy problems I have noticed with EC 12 are not the type one would associate with "bad cork". Rather it seems that the flavor profile seems to vary from bottle to bottle... some seem less complex; almost watered-down in flavour.

When it is good I like this bourbon a lot ---- and it is a great value. But I have been burned enough to not trust that I will always get the same product.

Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

The quality / consistentcy problems I have noticed with EC 12 are not the type one would associate with "bad cork".

While I agree with you that the described problems are not typical of cork problems, last year I had a classic "corked" bottle of EC12. I opened the bottle and poured a splash, and the nose reeked of the musty, damp cellar smell of 2,4,6-trichloranisole, which comes from a reaction between chlorine (used in the sterilizing process) and a penicillin mold found in the cork. I am quite sensitive to TCA (typical sensitivity is reported to be in the low parts per trillion range).

Examination of the cork showed a deep, inch long, black crevice that no doubt harbored the mold (see photo below).

I emailed Heaven Hill from their web site, describing the taint and the state of the cork, offering to send them a photo, and they sent me a check for $19, which almost covered the cost (there was sales tax). No photo proof required. I thought that was a class response.

About seven years ago, when I was rediscovering bourbon, I bought a bottle of Eagle Rare 10-year-old, based on the high recommendation of Paul Pacult in his 1997 Kindred Spirits. It had the same problem, which, in my ignorance (although I had long known about corked wine), I attributed to a musty barrel stave, perhaps in a barrel on the bottom level of a dirt floor warehouse. It tasted just like a musty, damp, earth floored cellar smells.

(I have since concluded, BTW, that Pacult's palate and mine are not in synch - I find Jim Murray and Michael Jackson (in that order) to be better guides.)

I haven't made my mind up about EC12, but it certainly is not my favorite. I guess it just doesn't sing to me. But I seem always to have an open bottle on hand, and it seems to get empty now and then.

Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

I've got about a 1/3 bottle left that I've been working on for a month or so. I had a pour last night to go along with reading this thread. While an enjoyable bourbon, there's something there, everytime, that sort of spoils what would otherwise be a great pour. I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it's that metallic description that I've seen a few times. Whatever it is, it makes this bourbon into something only decent to good. There's a lot of bourbons I want to try before I'd buy this one again. Though if I found it for sale, I wouldn't be opposed to having it on the shelf.

Interestingly, my uncle is in Kentucky right now on a "business trip". They'll be touring Heaven Hill. I'd love to try some of the other products and I'm sure he'll be bringing a bottle or 3 of something.

Re: BOTM 12/05: Elijah Craig 12yo

Interestingly, my uncle is in Kentucky right now on a "business trip". They'll be touring Heaven Hill. I'd love to try some of the other products and I'm sure he'll be bringing a bottle or 3 of something.

I think I paid about $10 for this at The Party Source in Bellevue, KY, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

Now this is definitely a value, only a little more than the much more pedestrian Evan Williams 7-year-old, which I find to be rather a one-trick-pony. This is rich, fruity, complex, with a rye-firmness to balance the barrel sweetness.

And I love the quaint, old-fashioned bottle and label. Kinda reminds me of the bottle for A-1 steak sauce. (There are two other labels, bTW.)

Since we are now approaching the ten year anniversary of the fire that destroyed the HH distillery, this may not be available in its present form that much longer. My current bottle, which is only half full, was bottled in March, '03 (I bought it this past August).

I'd better get some more soon myself! (And I was just down in Cincinnati the last two weekends. )

Jeff

(Edited to insert photo of my BiB rather than the 80 proof I had found on the 'net.)